A full comparison of OTT in Korea : I want to watch K-drama and K-movie…Where should I watch it? A lot of OTT services in Korea! But my bank account condition is too small and cute to subscribe to all of them…
If you have to subscribe to just one of the following: Tving, Watcha, Wave! What should I do? For the only OTT service you need to subscribe to, I will compare Korean OTT
A full comparison of OTT in Korea #1. wavve
https://www.wavve.com/index.html
Advantages of WAVVE
- It has the most content from the 3 terrestrial broadcasters (SBS, KBS, MBC)
- If you are a SKT carrier, you can use Wave at a lower price
- I’m holding HBO’s content
More about WAVVE
It is a South Korean OTT service created by a joint venture between three terrestrial broadcasters, KBS, MBC, and SBS, and SK Telecom, and the service began as of 9 a.m. on September 18, 2019. The existing POOQ and oksusu will be combined to create a new corporation.
Domestic broadcasting contents typically provide content from KBS, MBC, and SBS and original content from wavve. In addition, programs of Channel A, TV CHOSUN, and MBN, which are comprehensive programming channels, and iHQ, t.It also offers programs produced by several MPPs, including cast and NQQ.
It provides a Quick VOD service that can be seen immediately after the broadcast on the TV channel, and only the part that is being broadcast on the TV channel in real time can be seen. However, not all programs can be viewed in Quick VOD, but only popular programs are provided. Other programs open after the broadcast ends.
Movies are divided into movie categories (wavvie movies) that can be viewed by monthly subscribers and movie plus categories that must be purchased through individual payments. In the case of Movie Plus, Apple’s mobile devices do not support it. Most of the films that have been shown to some extent are serviced as wavvie films, but some films are only available on wavve.
The overseas series has been exclusively/first releasing new content every week since 2020, and various contents such as mid/youngd, middled, Yild, and Dad can be viewed with a monthly fee. On July 20, 2021, it was decided to receive a one-year contract with HBO, and some works will be exclusively released. And HBO content has been updated every week since July 22. It announced that it will exclusively release original content from NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock from September 2021. NBCUniversal (including SKY and Peacock) and a number of HBO works are exclusively released.
In 2022, it announced that it would launch two [Merry Queer] and [Other’s Love], which have the characteristics of queer entertainment, drawing public attention.
I’m not sure since when, but new quarterly animations that are being broadcast simultaneously on AnyPlus are uploaded every week. The super-hit work, Infinite Train of the Blade of Ghost and the Street of Delight, was uploaded every week, and other works are provided after completion.
Kakao TV’s original popular works can be seen here as it strengthens its content partnership with Kakao Entertainment in October 2022.
Overseas, except Southeast Asia, cannot be viewed due to copyright issues. For the same reason, the app cannot be downloaded from overseas Google Play Store and App Store. However, apart from that, since Wave’s U.S. branch, KOCOWA, has a content partner agreement with Rakuten Vicky, most Wave original contents support overseas services through Rakuten Vicky.
A full comparison of OTT in Korea #2. TVING
https://www.tving.com/onboarding
TVING Advantage
- It’s optimized to replay CJ Cable TVN dramas and entertainment shows
- You can stream real-time on CJ cable channels
- There are a lot of fun original contents. ex) Transfer relationship, girls’ high school mystery class, drunkard city women etc
More about TVING
TVING is a subsidiary of CJ ENM established on October 1, 2020, independent of CJ ENM.
List of live broadcast channels
CJ ENM: tvN, tvN STORY, tvN DRAMA, tvN SHOW, tvN SPORTS, Mnet, Tooniverse, OCN, OCN Movies, OCN Movies2 etc
JTBC affiliates: JTBC, JTBC2, JTBC4, etc
Subcontracted broadcasting companies: KTV National Broadcasting, National Assembly Broadcasting, EBS1, YTN, YTN Science, Yonhap News TV, Channel A, Channel A Plus, MBN, MBN Plus, TV CHOSUN, TV CHOSUN2, Lifetime, History Channel, SBS M, SBS F!L, SBS Biz, The K-POP, Animax, Anybox
For reference, TVING is currently not available overseas, and real-time broadcasting channels have been paid since April 29, 2021. All real-time TV channels cannot be viewed without a subscription. However, the “regular driving channel,” formerly called “TVING TV,” can be viewed free of charge even for simple members who do not have a subscription.
A full comparison of OTT in Korea #3. COUPANG PLAY
COUPANG PLAY Advantage
- PL, League 1. Digital live broadcast
- There are a lot of fun original contents ex)SNL Korea
More about COUPANG PLAY
OTT service operated by Coupang. Coupang Play signed an official partnership agreement with the Korea Football Association for four years until August 2025. With this partnership, Coupang Play will produce the original content ‘Roda to Qatar (tentative title)’ that contains the national soccer team’s challenge for the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup.
Although the content is still poor compared to major domestic OTT services such as Wave and Netflix, the original is Singapore’s OTT service, so overseas content and movies are quite well organized. Many terrestrial dramas are released with wavve after airing, and Warner Bros. Discovery has a very high proportion of works in overseas series, and many works that have been previously serviced on TV or other OTT have been continuously updated since their release.
As time goes by, exclusive content is created, and various contents are added, showing increasing development. In addition, there is no separate plan, but it boasts a beneficial rate policy of 4,990 won per month as all services are available free of charge for just Rocket Wow members.
